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Halo: Spartan Assault lands on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8

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The first Halo game targeting the handheld devices has now made it to the Windows Stores. Halo: Spartan Assault is compatible with Windows 8, Windows RT and Windows Phone 8.

The action in Halo: Spartan Assault takes place between the Halo 3 and Halo 4 time frames and offers “new insights into the first missions of the Spartan Ops program, the history of the Human-Covenant wars, and the rise of Commander Sarah Palmer.” Read more »

Microsoft still posts a profit despite $900 million in quarterly loses due to poor Surface RT sales

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It’s clear by now to everyone that the Surface RT has been a failure. The first Windows tablet to run on the ARM platform was doomed to obscurity when people realized they could not run legacy Windows applications on the device and had to rely on their lackluster ARM counterparts from the Windows Store.

The latest earnings report has revealed that the tablet has cost Microsoft some $900 million in loses, but the company was still able to post a revenue just shy of $20 billion – a 10% increase over the same quarter last year. Read more »

Samsung’s ATIV Book 9 Lite will hit stores on July 28, priced at $800

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Samsung recently announced its next generation ultrabooks with Windows 8 on-board. Back at the event the company did not mention anything about pricing and the availability, but it’s finally delivering the valuable info to the US citizen.

Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite is now available on pre-order in the US and is priced at $800. The 13-inch sleek ultrabook will hit stores on July 28. Read more »

Microsoft drops base Surface RT price to $349

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The Surface RT tablet, which was announced last year, met with lukewarm response from customers and reviewers alike. Burdened with a fairly outdated processor and an OS with few apps, not to mention priced the same as the iPad which has neither of those issues, the Surface RT was never going to set the sales charts on fire.

Microsoft seems to have realized their mistake and intend to solve at least one of those problems, by dropping the price by a cool $150 across the board. The base 32GB Surface RT now costs $349.99 whereas the 64GB model costs $449.99. If you want to get the Touch Keyboard, you’ll have to add $100 to these prices. Read more »

Microsoft’s new anti-iPad ad brags about the multi-tasking of Windows 8 tablets

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Microsoft has released a new ad to promote its Windows 8 tablets. The latest ad, which goes by the name “Baseball”, talks up the multi-tasking abilities of a Windows 8 tablet by comparing them against those of the Apple’s iPad.

The video clip that lasts for about 30 seconds, and tells the story of two tablet-wielding agents, who are looking to sign a hot prospect for their teams. Read more »

Nokia Windows RT tablet pictured, alleged full Windows 8 version on the way

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What we may be seeing here is Nokia’s rumored Windows tablet, which has been doing the rounds in Rumorland for quite a long time now, but is yet to be officially confirmed.

The slate runs Windows RT nd not the full-blown Windows 8. However sources, allegedly close to the situation at Espoo, claim that Nokia may have given up on the RT version (pictured here) and will move its focus to delivering a slate with the full Windows experience. Read more »

Windows 8.1 goes RTM this August

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Microsoft has just announced Windows 8.1 will be released to manufacturers this August and the OEM partners will be ready for the first devices in time for the holiday season.

The existing Windows 8 users will be able to update shortly after the RTM version goes live. Read more »

New Samsung ATIV lineup priced, available for pre-order in the UK

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The latest products from the Samsung ATIV lineup, that were announced in London on June 20, are now on pre-order on Amazon UK.

Starting with the Samsung ATIV BOOK 9 LITE, will sport a starting price of £499 for the non-touchscreen version and £599 for the touchscreen version. The slimmer, more powerful and higher-resolution BOOK 9 PLUS, naturally, is priced a bit higher Read more »

Samsung ATIV Q priced at 1,599 Euro in Germany

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German retailer Arlt briefly published a pre-order page for the Samsung ATIV Q transformer device with a price of €1,599 with shipping beginning this August.

However the page has gone missing, meaning the device was either sold out or just pulled back for other considerations. Yet, the info stayed online long enough for us to learn the pricing of the hybrid device. Read more »

Microsoft to launch 256GB Surface Pro in the US for $1,199

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If you have been craving for a higher capacity version of the Microsoft Surface tablet, especially considering the way the OS tends to eat up memory on the device, leaving significantly less than what is advertised by the company, then you might be interested in this.

According to one of Microsoft’s authorized vendors, the company is all set to launch a 256GB variant of the Surface Pro tablet in North America. It is said that this variant will be priced at $1,199.99. Read more »

Windows 8 overtakes Vista, becomes the third most used desktop OS

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8 months after its release in October 2012, Windows 8 has finally surpassed Windows Vista in usage. Microsoft’s latest desktop OS boasts 5.1% market share, whereas the WIndows Vista share has shrunk to 4.62%.

The data comes from research company and market tracker Net Applications. Their research shows that Windows 8 isn’t too far behind Mac OS X (all versions combined), either. At 6.63% combined, Apple’s OS is just at arms reach for the latest release of the Redmond company. Read more »

Microsoft releases SkyDrive Pro apps for Windows 8 and iOS

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Couple of weeks ago, Microsoft released Office Mobile app for Office 365 users on iOS. Now Microsoft has released a new app for iOS as well as Windows 8 for SkyDrive Pro users.

Like the one before, the SkyDrive Pro app is only for Office 365 users. You sign in using your account details and then you will be able to access, view and upload documents in your SkyDrive Pro folder. You can download these files for offline viewing, create new folders and share your content with others. Read more »

Microsoft to integrate Skype in Windows 8.1

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It’s been two years since Microsoft acquired Skype but it’s hard to tell that the way things have been handled ever since. One would have expected tighter integration of Skype in Microsoft’s products but that didn’t quite happen and at times competing platforms seem to be getting Skype services before Microsoft’s own.

That seems to be changing now (finally) with the upcoming launch of Windows 8.1. According to the sources at The Verge, Microsoft will be integrating Skype functionality directly within the operating system. As of now, you have to use the Skype application, which would then be dropped once the service is integrated within the OS. Read more »

Microsoft’s BUILD conference has started, watch the livestream here

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It’s been a busy month and it’s not over yet – Microsoft is kicking off its BUILD conference to talk about the future of Windows, Windows Server, Windows Azure, Visual Studio, and more. It should come as no surprise that Windows 8.1 will be a hot topic at the conference but there will be some Windows Phone talk too (about app development, not new features and certainly no GDR3 update).

The Day 1 keynote is minutes away from starting and you can watch it after the break. Read more »

Razer releases Surround software for virtual 7.1 surround on stereo headphones

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Any gamer knows that the sound in the game matters as much as the visuals. In fact, at times, it matters more, especially when the enemy may not be on the screen but you could still hear them. Normally, people use headphones while gaming but often the level of immersion from just two speakers leaves a lot to be desired and not everyone can afford to purchase a pair of surround sound headphones.

As a solution to this problem, Razer has released a new software for Windows PCs that let you enjoy the benefits of a surround sound headphones from any old pair of stereo headphones. It uses virtual surround sound (which is what most surround sound headphones use anyway) to recreate the experience of listening to a 7.1 channel system through just two speakers. Read more »